Letter to the editor: Don't cut school days

I am floored to see that the Beaverton School Board's go-to solution for their severe budget shortage is to stop offering school itself. Cutting student instruction time a minimum of four days and perhaps even more is completely wrongheaded. The removal of teaching days will also create an economic and employment hardship for many working parents. Additionally, how has the district secured an agreement of furlough days with the union before this reduced school day schedule has been shared with the public?

We cannot create academic achievement for students if we are not bothering to teach them. By cutting instruction days, the school district is stopping the learning process for the benefit of the paid employees, not the students that they are charged to educate and support.

I recognize that the district is dealing with a significant budget crisis and no solution will be an easy one. I strongly urge the school board to think of the students first and foremost by keeping them in school, in their seats and learning. I hope parents who are also equally concerned about the dilution of their children's education will contact the Beaverton School Board as well.